General Services Administration (GSA)
Contract Number GS-10F-0197N
Federal Supply Schedule -- SIN 899-1
4G was awarded a Federal Supply Schedule contract by the General Services Administration (GSA) in January of 2002. In general, this is an open-ended five-year contract (and three five-year extensions) with the federal government that establishes the bona fides of the company as well as the negotiated rates for services.
This contract mechanism allows any federal agency to procure the services of 4G for task orders on a restricted competitive basis. The agency need only review three companies for any given task order. It is used by agencies to award contracts without going through the often laborious competition phase of procurement, and also allows them to easily award encumbered end-of-fiscal-year money.
The rules governing GSA schedules are set out in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 8.4. They can be accessed at this government site.
Key aspects of the GSA schedule regulations from a buyer's perspective are:
- The GSA determines the price of items under schedule contracts prior to contract award and considers them to be fair and reasonable. In essence, a GSA schedule is a pre-approved price list for use by any federal buyer. Pre-approved (pre-negotiated) pricing is the key.
Orders from individual federal agencies are considered to be placed using full and open competition. This allows for:
- Unprecedented speed and minimal paperwork
- Limited competition (this is what makes it fast)
- Avoidance of a public bid (averaging 270 days and at least one large tree's worth of paper work).
Federal buyers need not:
- Seek further competition.
- Consider small business programs.
Federal buyers place orders by using GSA Advantage or by reviewing the price lists of at least three schedule contractors. In a nutshell, the regulations say the competition took place when the vendor negotiated its schedule prices. This makes buying quick and easy for the federal buyer.
Price and competition is important in federal purchasing but so is purchasing speed, efficiency, and product/service value.
How to order through the GSA
The General Services Administration maintains a website known as GSAAdvantage! which can be accessed by clicking the link below. Cultural resources management is categorized as Environmental Planning and Documentation Services, and assigned the Special Item Number (SIN) 899-1. Agencies may compare our company's offerings and rates to other similar GSA contractors by using the "What are you looking for?" search box. Enter "899-1" and then narrow your search by using the drop-down boxes. You can choose 4G Consulting under "Contractor" to find our entry, where you can then "View Catalog." Or you can simply contact us directly and we will be glad to assist.
GSA's latest e-Business innovation, e-Buy, is an electronic Request for Quote (RFQ) / Request for Proposal (RFP) system designed to allow Federal buyers to request information, find sources, and prepare RFQs/RFPs, online, for millions of services and products offered through GSA's Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) and Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts(GWAC).
In order to use e-Buy you must have a Government Purchase Card or AAC onfile in your GSA Advantage Profile. If you do not have a payment method, you may still register, but you will receive an email verifying you are a Federal buyer with a .gov or .mil address. After verification, you may use e-Buy without having a payment method.
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Advantage! |